A 24-year-old teacher from York is on track to become a millionaire by the age of 40 through a combination of investing, living at home, and cutting unnecessary spending. Elly, who earns £36,000 a year, has already accumulated around £50,000 in savings, split between investments and a Lifetime ISA.
Three Key Strategies
Elly, known as Elly Plant on social media, follows three main tips: investing, saving money by living with her parents, and avoiding unnecessary purchases. She currently puts aside around £1,000 a month because she lives at home. Until about three months ago, she was living and working in Thailand, where she aimed to save 50% of her income.
Elly has been making savvy investments wherever she lives. She owns 30 items of clothing and only buys new ones using money earned from selling old items. However, she hasn't cut out all spending, still paying £100 a month for her gym membership and maintaining a social life with regular holidays.
Investment Journey
Elly started following YouTube accounts for investment advice. One of her first moves was to invest her £6,000 student loan, with her parents covering accommodation and a hotel job paying for daily needs. After two years, she earned a sizeable amount of interest.
“Obviously there’s a ceiling to it,” she says, "but I think that as long as you’re smart with your money you can grow wealth on an average salary. Learning about money has made it possible."
Social Media and Female Investors
Elly now runs a TikTok channel with 40,000 followers, sharing her investment tips. The small income she earns from posting also goes into investments. Many of her followers are women, reflecting recent figures from Lloyds showing that women who invest tend to be more active investors.
Women make up 32% of investors on Lloyds platform Invest Wise, with portfolios averaging £14,040 — 49% more than the £9,450 average held by male investors. Female investors were also more likely to be classed as “active,” with 69% completing at least one trade compared with 56% of men.
Path to £1 Million
Elly believes she would reach £1 million by her early fifties by investing just £196 a month, based on her experience of the S&P 500 growing up to 10% a year. Since her own investments are five times that figure, she expects to hit her target by the time she's 40.
“I just want to create as much wealth as possible,” she says. “I don’t really care about the specific number I reach.”
